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Hi everyone, this is J. Kim. Its been a while!

First, a huge thank-you for all the support during the Steam Next Fest demo.

Far more people played than we expected, and the feedback we received has been incredibly motivating.

It also strengthened our resolve to make Ember & Blade the best game it can be.

Todays devlog focuses on the issue we heard about most: dialogue and voiceover.

After reviewing your feedback from multiple angles, talking with many of you, and testing different writing styles, weve reached a clear conclusion:

we need to change Fenrixs core presentation.

Fenrixs characterization will be revised, and as a result, substantial dialogue across the cast will be rewritten, not just Fenrixs lines.

Fenrixs Original Intent & Your Feedback

Fenrixs original model was the Prince from Prince of Persia (2008).

We wanted conversations between Fenrix and Ariella to evoke the PrinceElika dynamic.

The reason was simple: even in a dark fantasy, keeping the tone relentlessly heavy can be exhausting.

Gameplay already demands a lot of focus; if the dialogue is equally tense, theres no room to breathe.

We also felt that the banter advancing the relationship toward the finale, like PrinceElika, would fit

Ember & Blade well. \n\nSo we were surprised to see comparisons to Star-Lord (Guardians of the Galaxy) or Deadpool.

Were not fond of exaggerated quips and boundless confidence either.

But stepping backignoring later story beats only we know aboutand looking solely at the early sections, we can see how it might read that way.

A grown man trading earnest jokes with an animal companion can indeed feel like a kids animated show

to some players. Perhaps it would have landed better if, like Prince of Persia, Fenrix and Ariella were the

ones exchanging banterassuming we cut back on expository lines and reduced the proportion of jokes

so the dialogue wouldnt overwhelm the player.

Still, being honest with ourselves: characters who toss out clever, exaggerated quips you wouldnt hear

in everyday speech feel stale and not contemporary. And, well, Prince of Persia was released in 2008.

Fenrix 3.0\nSince SNF, weve tried several dialogue styles and thought hard about this; in the end, we decided to

reflect the premise honestly and portray his personality in a plain, restrained way, stripping away the

over-calculation. (Why 3.0? Because the current Fenrix was already a 2.0 revisionhah.)

Fenrix is someone who hides his wounds and chose demon-hunting as a way to escape them.

If the old Fenrix used exaggerated humor to mask pain and anger, the new Fenrix is a man whose rage

and grief have been worn down by over a decade of relentless huntingleaving him jaded and without a true sense of purpose. That doesnt mean hes powerless or unmotivated.

He still believes demon-hunting is his calling, and he knows hes good at it.

Whatever others say, his emotional swings are small; he shows his feelings less often than before,

and when he does, its brief and understated. His tone isnt warm, but it isnt icy or cutting either.

After years in a line of work people tend to shun, hes used to criticism and gossip and has enough social

sense not to create problems with his behavior. Practically speaking, the new Fenrix will speak more

briefly and use far less humor. He wont react to every situation with surprise or wide-eyed fascination.

We tried a zero-humor, sharper delivery, but that made conversations with Ariella and Haniel too tense

and tiring.Instead, within a restrained emotional range, hell deflect or ignore other characters jokes as

no big deal rather than trading quips. Banter will be cleaner and sparser, especially early on.

As relationships grow, well gradually increase the frequencyusing that arc to show Fenrix slowly

opening up and growing.As an aside, for the new Fenrix were keeping Dabi from My Hero Academia in

mind as a reference point.

(Finding the right model wasnt easy; for writing, we need a character we know well and fully understand.

We also considered Carmy from The Bear, but if every conversation ran at that tone, it would likely feel

too exhausting, so we dropped that option)

Dabi shows a languid, nonchalant attitude toward others while staying razor-sharp about everything

around him. He keeps his distance because of deep wounds and clingsalmost self-destructivelyto the

wrong means of addressing them. To be clear, were not adopting the nihilism or the explosive, villainous

flair you see from Dabi in combat scenes.

Closing\nItll take a bit more time before we can share the updated lines and VO publicly.

For now, wed love to hear what you think of Fenrixs new direction.

Your feedback is what shapes Ember & Bladethank you!